Why You?

“Don’t worry about your competition.”

When a client brings up competitors, and how upset they are that someone just entered their market offering the same product/service, that’s what I reply with.  I also say the same thing when a client wants to go into a new market where they are worried about incumbent or existing businesses having a large market share.

Why?

Because similarities only exist on the surface, and when you dig deep enough, each business is as unique as one’s fingerprint.  Every company and its owner ultimately offers something quite different, even if the labeling of the products is similar.  So the only people that should worry about competition are those that haven’t done their homework in figuring out how different they are.

Consider your skills.  Consider your education.  Consider your passion.  Consider your background.  Consider your style.  I can bet that if you spent some time thinking about what makes you uniquely you, and how to use these unique qualities in what you offer, no one can really offer the same thing as you do.

Even if your competitor sells the same widget that you do, it’s likely that how you package it, who you market it to, how you service your customers, how you communicate, and your style of doing business can be (and should be) considerably different.

Don’t discount your background.  Don’t hide your previous experiences.  Embrace your personality.  Be bold about your passion.  Incorporate “you” into your business.  After all, YOU are the advantage and the reason why someone would buy from you!